[CombatMuffin]

That was a great read, sir. Thank you for sharing it.

I have a mixed opinion about it: The world as we know it today is no doubt shaped by the policies and efforts on the United States' part, but at the same time, those policies did not emanate from nothingness, they are the result of a cultural and historical background (the same rise and fall the author speaks of).

The world changes, sometimes for good, sometimes for worse. The Romans represented, in many senses, an enormous advancement in social and economic policies, but at the same time, they were far from ideal. Their economy and social structure was, in large part, sustained by the tolerance of slavery, for example.

It is not until their fall, and the tremendous setback that human civilization felt during the long and warlike medieval era, that freedom and present day democracy were widely accepted (and by no means effortlessly, much conflict was needed).

If we were to travel back in time, and offer present day capitalism, democracy and at times probably even freedom to those civilization, they may not conceive it as fruitful: perhaps from ignorance, perhaps from fear or greed.

I do not mean to say, however, that the American Way must fall and die in order for the world to progress, but if and when the world takes the step forward, the American Way may not be the predominant one.

Even in today's world, we feel the influence, whether we realize it or not, that the Greeks, Romans, English, French, Germans and other cultures left and provided (for better or worse) and are now more polished.

Besides, whoever downplays American contributions to the present world, should perhaps reconsider their internet, their electricity, their banking system, their airplanes, their radios... and on and on and on.